Jonathan, Dickson others seek implementation of restructuring report

• Group alleges plot to reintroduce offshore /onshore dichotomy

IJawleaders, including former President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State have advised President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to sincerely implement the recommendations of the party’s panel led by Governor Nasir ElRufai of Kaduna State.

They gave the advice yesterday when Dickson led a delegation of some Ijaw leaders to the home of the former president to deliberate on the APC report on restructuring.

The Ijaw leaders said a holistic and sincere implementation of the recommendations on restructuring would encourage inter-ethnic harmony and development in the country.

A statement by the Special Adviser to Governor Dickson on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, quoted Jonathan as saying the issues which fell under the purview of the committee were exhaustively treated during the 2014 National Conference whose implementation would definitely move the nation forward.

Meanwhile, a group, Akwa Ibom Leaders Vanguard, has alleged that the APC, through the report, is trying to indirectly reintroduce onshore/offshore dichotomy in the oil sector. According to the group, the committee which recommended resource control, among others, is reintroducing the dichotomy by stating specifically that oil mineral found onshore should belong to the Federal Government while those found offshore should be owned by the states.

Akwa Ibom is a major beneficiary of the abrogated dichotomy as most of the oil resource which have earned the state much revenue, based on derivation principle, are found offshore.

Spokesman of the group, Senator Anietie Okon, warned yesterday in Uyo that any attempt to reintroduce resource control based on offshore/onshore dichotomy would create more crises in the Niger Delta.